India: Summer Service Learning & Cultural Immersion

Pune, India

Welcome message from ACM India Program Director Sucheta Paranjpe

From high-tech industries to thousands of rural villages seemingly untouched by time, India encompasses both the dynamic forces of globalization and the deep-rooted traditions of an ancient culture, marked by a diversity encompassing a multiplicity of religions, ethnicities, political states, languages, and art forms. Pune, a medium-sized city of over three million, is located in the state of Maharashtra, and is home to numerous civic organizations dedicated to improving the situation of Indians living in both urban and rural settings.

The ACM India Summer Program: Service Learning & Cultural Immersion is one of two ACM short-term summer opportunities open to current students and recent graduates. This six-week program is based in Pune, where students will engage in community-based service learning with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Pune area. Students will have access to organizations across a wide variety of disciplines, and prior to arrival at the program site, the ACM office will start working with each student to help find an organization that provides a good match for their particular interests. Students will also take a class in Marathi language, the local language spoken in the state of Maharashtra. There will also be field trips and excursions that take advantage of the cultural offerings of the area.

Upon arrival in Pune, students will have an orientation period of a few days, during which they will be living in a hotel. Students will then move into local host families for the duration of the program.

For more detailed information, please use the links located on the left-hand side of this page.

This program was established with generous support from the MacArthur Foundation.

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My summer in India was truly the opportunity of a lifetime. Spending time in both the villages of Melghat and the busy city Pune enabled me to see such different aspects of Indian culture. I thoroughly enjoyed living so simply in the village of Chilati where we got to play with the most adorable kids ever in the evenings while devoting our efforts to our projects during the day. Back in Pune I stayed with the best host family I could of hoped for and learned so much from them. More than anything else I miss the people I left back in India. I will always remember the meaningful relationships we formed with our translators, the ACM staff, the children we worked with, and our host families which formed such a critical part of our time in India. I am so grateful for my ability to have participated in this ACM program, which has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences of my life.